A Perfect Day (Anticipating Emma T-Minus 19 Days)
0
0
Today is one of those rare days. Perfect in how carefree it was, perfect as only the storm that surprised us at the beach can turn out to be the rain that the sand at our sandpit needed to be moulded into what we will of it, can be.
Rarely do we have a Saturday like this. With no visits to grandparents on both sides, no grocery list to check off (we do all our groceries online now!), errands that we could complete while Matt was having his afternoon nap, and no other social events to attend, we had the entire day to ourselves.
Add to that, one friendly encounter at breakfast, and two near collisions from reckless drivers who actually apologised after, there is really nothing else I can ask for to make this day any more perfect.
The day started with breakfast at our favourite Teochew fishball noodles stall at Lorong Ah Soo. As usual, the noodle shop auntie and drink stall auntie stopped to chat, with profuse thanks for not pocketing the extra $2 one of them accidentally gave us. Unnecessary thanks, but it was nice.
With the sun already up on its throne in the sky by the time we finished our breakie, we abandoned our initial park idea for the beach. On the way down, Reckless Driver No. 1 cut into my lane very abruptly. I honked (and I seldom do, cos it seems pointless to me. If I can sound the honk, I must have had time to avert whatever obstacle there is). But I did cos I felt that hot flash of frustration – I have a toddler in the car! And I actually stopped the car beside him (which is something I’ve never done) and the driver waved his apology. Instantly, everything was in order again. Not all drivers admit their bad decisions. This one did, and that’s all I needed.
We arrived at East Coast Park, only to enjoy one very short walk by the beach. To the boy, the beach was one helluva “PIT!” (sandpit) where we go to everyday.
Five minutes after we got onto the sand, the wind was whipping it up and smacking us hard with it. Matt was oblivious to the impending storm, but wasn’t quite sure how to enjoy the strong wind anyway. He was mildly confused, but promptly fell asleep when we ran back to the car when we felt the first drops of the storm hitting us.
Once at home, we did absolutely nothing but muck around. Of course, this mummy didn’t let a single photo opportunity go by.
All that accomplished by lunchtime. A rare feat for us.
The hubz and I managed to spend some time together while the boy went to sleep after his lunch, and got home just after he woke up from his nap. Off we headed to the mushroom farm located right in our neighbourhood.
Of course, along the narrow lane at Jalan Kayu, Reckless Driver No. 2 swerved into my path and almost landed himself into an accident with oncoming traffic from the opposite lane. I didn’t honk, but was just amazed at how stupid he was to put himself in such a situation. Then I saw him wave an apology in his rearview mirror. Wow! Twice in a day! I’m loving this.
After finally making this trip, we bagged ourselves some fresh mushrooms, mushroom snacks and four packets of mushroom soup. And then we headed off to the Promised Land – the sandpit which remains Matthew’s highlight of each day.
Naturally, we started building our favourite constructions again. Person versus Fort. For those who have seen my photos, you would know that the fort is usually built by me… this time round, I was going for Theme: Ruined Fort, whereas Augz is really into excavating dead persons, even though he made today’s poor corpse a happy one.
+++++
At night, when we were putting Matthew to sleep, he was throwing himself all over the bed, and we think he accidentally bit himself at one point because he started crying so hard on our bed. Just before that, he was wriggling away from our tickles and pushing us away, but the moment he was in pain, he reached out to cling on to me the way he did as my baby koala. All he wanted – needed – was for me to kiss his pain away, which I usually do wherever his soreness and aches are.
So there he was, with big, fat tears rolling down his eyes. And I still almost cry in response too, whenever I see him hurt. Just, almost. 🙂 In that one moment, I’m so grateful for that little episode of pain. He’s growing up so fast that I find myself missing the baby in him quite a lot these days. And it’s times like that I remember exactly how it feels, to know he’s still my baby no matter how “grown up” he is now.
I sing him to sleep as I usually do. The repertoire of “As We Gather”, “The Spirit Song”, “Jesus, We Enthrone You” and because it’s the month of Mary, I throw in an “Ave Maria”. (I can only do these songs nowadays when he’s not requesting for “Bus!” (Wheels on the Bus” or “Ba-Ba!” (of the black sheep). Yup, he does song requests.)
And then I complete the night with some cookies as I did some reading, musing, and writing, as Augz completes his day with red wine to accompany the work he has to do.
It’s the perfect way to end our perfect day. For me at least, it really is.
MMJ
